Disney’s Best ‘Star Wars’ Attraction Isn’t Even Inside the Park

Anxiously awaiting your chance to pilot the Millennium Falcon? Have your credit card ready to book a room at Disney’s immersive Star Wars hotel once it opens?

Disney’s most impressive Star Wars attraction is actually just a few short weeks from opening — and you won’t even need park admission to see it first-hand. That’s because when the “Star Wars: Secrets Of The Empire” virtual reality experience arrives at Walt Disney World and Disneyland this winter, it won’t be inside the theme parks at all.

The new immersive experience powered by virtual reality system The Void will open within Disney’s “downtown” districts, debuting at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World in Florida on December 16th and arriving at Disneyland’s Downtown Disney in California on Jan. 5, 2018.

If you’re picturing escape room or merely slapping on a VR headset, think bigger. The half-hour “Star Wars: Secrets Of The Empire” journey is considered “hyper-reality”, boasting smell, touch and feel among the senses heightened by The Void’s integrations. Here, the virtual reality storyline sees participants traveling to a “molten planet” on behalf of the Rebellion to infiltrate and gather intelligence from an Imperial base. While going undercover as stormtroopers, they’ll shoot blasters, fight enemies and compete the treacherous task — all with the help of K-2S0, the lanky droid spotlighted in last winter’s “Rogue One.”